Now I know why snipers are young

Some people would define South Texas as "some faraway place"

Yes, it is all relative. Most training I want to attend seems to be in far away Arizona, or the upper MidWest such as Iowa or Illinois, or back in the SouthEast in distant places like Georgia or Florida. šŸ¤£
 
What an awesome way to spend a weekend. Money well spent and in the company of a guy that not only knows his stuff, he put his butt on the line for the things some people in this country take for granted as well as the guys like us that like to shoot. It would have been worth the price of admission just to spend a couple days with this guy.
 
Great life experience story. Been shooting most of my life recently decided to go and shoot a 700 Yard match and the local stall warts were more then abliging and guided me to a respectable score. Great coaching is a fundamental of success and enjoyment. I'm hooked and will be going back for more. Keep it up, I'm with you on this.
 
Yes, it is all relative. Most training I want to attend seems to be in far away Arizona, or the upper MidWest such as Iowa or Illinois, or back in the SouthEast in distant places like Georgia or Florida. šŸ¤£
Even within Florida, some parts of FL are "a far away place". There's a running joke that says "The thing I like about Miami is that it's so close to America."
 
Instructors name is Paul Butler. The 777 Ranch is just west of Hondo, Texas. The ranch is an Exotic Game hunting ranch of 5500 acres owned by Jeff Rann who is a big game hunter from South Africa where he has another ranch that makes this one look like a home in the suburbs. He spends 6 mo here and 6 mo there every year. Lots of experience and the accommodations are superb as is the food (Exotic meats for sure). Had Dove breasts for dinner Sunday night. For what you get, its not expensive.
I can confirm that Paul Butler is a fantastic instructor. Go to his website Evolved Ballistics.com for more info. He's located in Hondo, TX which is a little over an hour west of San Antonio. I took a 2 day private course from him last year and a full day refresher course a few weeks ago. His new range at the 777 Ranch is fantastic. You definitely get a lot of experience doping wind since it's always breezy in south Texas.
 
What! - no wind flags, sighters, or pulled targets with spotter discs
Most thousand yard shooters read mirage, flags help some but you cant see the far ones unless they are huge then they are not very responsive. The problem with mirage however is that your only reading it where the scope is focused. If the range you shoot has steady winds thats ok, but if theres different winds at mid range you have to know where to focus. Wind reading is a skill that takes a long time to learn, and many hunters dont seem to worry about it much it seems. One of the best ways to learn it is to shoot at a range with pits. The instant feed back from your spotter really helps you see what a condition does to your bullet. Most likely this instructor learned on a range with pits as well.
 
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Often a team effort (an additional set of eyes, brain & optics) to make things work on a variety of on-site unprepared and unorganized events. NRA or other organized long range match shooting background would be common.
 
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What! - no wind flags, sighters, or pulled targets with spotter discs
Paul has a Kestrel with the wind meter all set up on the firing line and he can read mirage like nobody's business.
I'm may wrong, but I believe Paul was a Marine ReCon sniper and then a sniper instructor for the SEAL teams later in his career. The dude is money.
 
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